Dangerous Intentions
by Juliet Deveraux
Summary: “You were nothing to me. The whole time it was only a bit of fun… a little challenge. Oh, it was so much easier than I thought… It took only a matter of months for you to give up your friends, family... you gave up everything for me. Fool." LPSM
1. Prat

**Disclaimer**: I'm sure that a little note like this probably doesn't provide much legal protection, but all the same, I don't own the Harry Potter universe or any recognisable trademarks and do not intend to profit from copyright infringement. Original characters, obviously, are my own intellectual property.

**Author's Note**: I'm quite excited about this story; I have so much in store that this should be my most dramatic Lily/Scorpius yet! Enjoy, and don't forget to leave a little review!_

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_Chapter One_: Prat

Scorpius stood as casually and aloof as ever, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder for signs of a familiar face. It was his last year at Hogwarts, the first ever that he had arrived at the Platform alone, and admittedly he was skin-crawlingly nervous. Not only was there the N.E.W.T.S. that hovered ever-threateningly in the distance, there was the fact that at this stage he had no idea what to do with his future. Usually his family saw him off, momentarily distracting him from his fears until the arrival of his friends. But today he was flying solo.

His father had been too busy at work to attend and his mother was looking after his grandfather, who was currently confined to his bed with a wizarding illness. His grandmother remained by his bedside in a perpetual stasis of stony-faced vigil, with her usual lack of emotion and comforting words. With the Malfoy reputation disgraced all those years ago she had seemingly decided to follow the age-old adage of purebloods as people of few words. Perhaps, Scorpius thought, this was in order to ignore their fallen place in the wizarding world.

Their wealth had by no means diminished, but their influence in the wizarding world was almost non-existent. Those on the side of Voldemort regarded them as traitors, while they had been an enemy to the Order from the beginning. This made them not neutral but almost outcasts, though Scorpius had managed to make friends despite this. Many things had changed since the war, he had been told, but having never lived through the war it was all normal to him. One thing that was different, however, was the nature of Slytherin house.

Slytherins today carried varying degrees of prejudice. From those who cared little for blood, to those who believed in pureblood superiority but kept quiet, to the few that would raise the point at any given opportunity. Scorpius placed himself in none of these categories, for while he occasionally threw around the word 'mudblood' and the like, he didn't invest himself in such beliefs. His reputation, however, said otherwise, as he had long ago realised two facts. One; that such bold statements were ideal for drawing attention to himself, attention that he basked in, and two; that it kept him out of trouble with the groups that were most menacing within his house, those of the third category.

His thoughts turned to one Alice 'Malice' Avery, who fell squarely into the third category. She was the leader of a gang of students that met solely to discuss such matters, and were rumoured to have been involved in a spate of random muggle torturings that had occurred that summer holidays.

It had all begun when Alice heard him refer to a fellow student as 'mudblood'; after that she had taken a shine to him. She was stunning, and part of a powerful old pureblood family who had managed to falsely prove their innocence after the fall of Voldemort. She was so forward about her attraction to him that it was almost threatening; some said that she was mildly psychotic. He hadn't really seen any evidence for this, but he quite enjoyed the ego-stroking she gave him and had thus taken to teasing her mercilessly.

There, at the end of the corridor, was another girl he liked to tease, though indirectly; he made comments to her family rather than her. Her red hair was falling loosely past her shoulders as she greeted her friends, emerald eyes glinting with excitement. He found himself strangely attracted to Lily Potter; none of his reasons why could ever be considered the 'right' reasons.

Aside from her looks, there was her age. By his count, Lily was about 15-years-old, and while this was only two years younger than himself, he realised that anyone, his age or older, would question his intentions. Rather than being a deterrent, however, this served only to pique his interest further. Second of all was her family, none of which had a good word to say about him; even imagining the looks on their faces brought a smirk to his face. Third of all was her feelings toward him, feelings of great disdain; in the few run-ins they had had, she had been nothing but disparaging, and Scorpius couldn't resist a challenge. Roughly translated, this made her tantamount to the golden apple at the very top of the tree of forbidden fruit; irresistible.

Before she noticed him staring at her and before he had time to ponder his attraction further, he found himself yanked by the collar into the compartment he had been standing in front of and forcefully thrust against the wall. Mere inches away was the face of Alice Avery, who stared through brown eyes, with an expression half-seductive, half-playful.

"Hey Scorpius," she purred, fingering his top button and pouting, "why didn't you reply to any of my letters this summer?"

"If it isn't Miss Malice," he replied with a smirk equally as alluring as he ran the back of his hand softly from her cheek to her chin. "I wanted to reply, of course, but after a small… incident, shall we say?, with my father, I had my mail confiscated all summer. So sorry,"

"That's okay," said Alice, giggling. "How about we just catch up now?"

It was then that he realised that she was fiddling with the top button of his pants, but unfortunately the instant before he pushed her away, the compartment door swung open, revealing a red-head who rolled her eyes in disgust when she realised what appeared to be going on. "Looks like we can't sit here, this compartment's where they keep the trash," she commented to her friends with a glare to Scorpius before she closed the door.

Scorpius half expected Alice to begin a furious rampage, but she was too preoccupied with his clothing, which he did up before standing back, red-faced. "I – not - no," was all he managed to stammer before leaving the compartment. Lily and her group of friends were only a few feet away as he left; he stared at her momentarily before storming off in the opposite direction, fists clenched.

* * *

"But Lily, did you see the way he looked at you?" questioned Josephine Summers, a Hufflepuff girl who was a mutual 'friend', who in fact seemed to enjoy making her life unbearable. Now, to Lily's great displeasure, she felt the need to do so right in front of all her friends, who had assembled in the spare compartment they had finally managed to find after an awkward encounter with the two 'amorous' seventh years, Scorpius Malfoy and Alice Avery.

Lily frowned, unsure of what the unobservant Josephine Summers could have possibly seen that she herself did not. "Um, he looked mortified."

"Exactly."

"I don't understand why you think that unusual, I mean we did catch them in the middle of their…" Lily stopped for a moment to shiver in disgust, "their foreplay."

The Hufflepuff acquaintance rolled her eyes, while their other friends giggled. "If he didn't care what you thought of him, he wouldn't have looked mortified, would he? He would have just smirked, said something nasty and kept going."

Lily arched a skeptical eyebrow. "So?"

Josephine rolled her eyes again, as though Lily was being incredibly thick-headed. "So, he cares what you think of him. Maybe he even lik-"

"Josephine, I really don't like where you're going with this. First of all, it's Scorpius Malfoy. Every soul in this compartment loathes and despises him, and always will. Second of all, he's a seventh year. Third of all, I could have seen his… eugh, I need a cold shower just thinking about it."

Josephine giggled. "Why, does thinking of him make you a bit hot under the collar, Lil?"

Lily found herself blushing involuntarily, and wishing Scorpius was here so she could give him a nice bat-bogey hex as thanks for the embarrassment she was enduring because of him and his stupid, crazy girlfriend.

* * *

During the sorting Scorpius found his attention wandering. His eyes travelled casually to a certain redhead at the Gryffindor table. Lily wasn't looking at him, with her concentration set obediently upon the stage before her. However there was another Potter staring at him, and rather distastefully at that.

Albus was a fellow Slytherin, though only god knew how he was sorted into the house of ambition, and a bit of a loner. He was often spotted with a book, and aside from Rose Weasley, Scorpius considered him his greatest rival. They often exchanged sarcastic remarks, as Albus was living up to the tradition of hating the Malfoy existence, perhaps more passionately than his father had.

At the moment Scorpius was receiving looks that could only be described as death glares, and he guessed that Lily must have said something to her brother about their little encounter on the train. Rather than being intimidated or even remotely annoyed, it had given Scorpius an idea for some common-room entertainment later that night.

* * *

Scorpius and his small group of friends were relaxing in the comfort of the roaring fire of the Slytherin common room. Scorpius was quite sure that a question about his activities on the train earlier today would come up eventually, and inevitably it did.

"So, Scorpius, world has travelled fast about you and Avery… so, fess up, what was it like?" came the eager voice of Riley Harper who had been talking to a group of friends across the room. He flopped down on the floor in front of the fire, as there were no armchairs remaining.

"I forgot to tease you about that," grinned Elias Nott. "Congrats. She's hot – not that I'm interested of course."

"You've got to be kidding," said Hadrian Pucey. "There's no way you like her, right Scorp? She's bonkers. There's obviously nothing going on, except on its current stalker-victim level."

Elias and Riley burst into laughter. Rather than reply, Scorpius smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Man, don't let Malice hear you say that, Hade – actually, do, just so long as you leave me your broomstick when she murders you," joked Riley.

"But whether he likes her or not," begun Elias, "he missed an opportunity for some… well, some adrenaline-filled fun, my friend. Aren't you mad with that little Weasel for interrupting? Actually, I heard she insulted Avery and managed to return alive."

"She's not so bad herself, you know, aside from the temper. If you locked her in a room with me for a while, I bet we'd have some fun," Elias said with his usual sinister brand of humour.

"You sicken me, Nott. But I have to admit, she's pretty fit," Scorpius conceeded, though the cocky smirk never left his features, almost as though it was permanently etched in. "Well, for a red-headed half-Potter half-Weasel. If it weren't for that mudblood on her father's side she might actually be decent,"

"You're an absolute prat," came a voice from the corner of the Slytherin common room, cutting through the laughter of Malfoy and the usual suspects, his cronies Hadrian Pucey, Elias Nott and Riley Harper.

Scorpius turned around, his ears instantly reddening at the sight of Albus Potter, his Slytherin rival and, conveniently, Lily's brother.

"First of all, she has taste. A taste which, needless to say, does not include a liking for your type of scumbag. Second, if you so much as touch one of her _toenail clippings_ I guarantee you either me or one of my numerous family members will dismember you by the most painful process possible. Third of all, you bigoted twat, she got her looks from our so-called 'dirty blooded' grandmother, who was ten times the witch you'll ever be. Just some food for thought. If you'd like to spare everyone from idiotic comments in the future, kindly choke on these thoughts now,"

Scorpius stood up and sauntered over to Albus, standing with his arms crossed in what appeared to be a nonchalant fashion. In actual fact, he was making it perfectly clear that, in stature, he was both taller and stronger. "Is that a threat?" he said coolly, smirking as always. "Because if it is, well, she just got better looking than ever."


	2. Competition

_Chapter Two_: Competition

Scorpius was in need of an escape from the mountainous pile of homework now engulfing his side of the dormitory. With the first Quidditch match of the season approaching, he decided he was also in need of flying practice, especially since their disastrous last year. Slytherin had been spectacularly knocked out of the competition by the Hufflepuff team, but since some of their better players had left last year Scorpius was determined to win in this, his final year.

Scorpius had joined the team in his second year, not in the position of Seeker like his father, but as a Chaser. Throughout his schooling career the House Cup had been passed from house to house, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff; he was convinced that this year was one for the silver and greens.

As he entered the pitch he noticed a red-headed figure in the air. Lily was also a Chaser, and unfortunately, a damn good one. Currently, she was tossing a Quaffle through the hoop and then diving to retrieve it before ascending and weaving through imaginary adversaries. Once she had got it through the hoop at least three more times she descended, obviously not having noticed his presence, and went to retrieve a water bottle from a bag on the sidelines.

He sidled over casually as always, leaning against a nearby hoop. "Well if it isn't little Lily Potter,"

Lily jumped, startled by the cool voice and the sudden appearance of her least favourite person in the world. She glared at him, remembering Josephine's ridiculous comment about him having feelings toward her. _As if_, she thought to herself. _He probably doesn't even_ have _feelings_. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Nothing, nothing, just a little chat is all," he smirked, conceited as always.

Lily felt somewhat threatened by the unidentifiable glint in his grey eyes, which never broke contact with hers. "You know, my brother knows I'm here," Lily replied coolly, keeping her voice even despite the fact that his presence made her feel anxious.

Scorpius looked at her quizzically for a moment, before coming to a realisation and laughing. "You honestly think I'd hurt you for no reason?"

Lily relaxed slightly at this, but shrugged nonetheless. "Hurt me, kill me, who knows."

"Miss Potter, I am _greatly_ offended. I may be, let's face it, a bit of a prick-"

"Understatement of the century," she replied, thinking that perhaps Malfoy wasn't really dangerous after all, just a bit of an idiot.

Scorpius ploughed on as though she had never spoken, "- but a murderer, or a torturer, I am not."

"You torture Albus. Just because you don't use magic doesn't mean it's not torture."

"It's all in good fun."

"No it's not. You hate each other's guts, there's no pretence of civility whatsoever."

"Of course. How could I forget?" he replied smoothly, tilting his head to the side and smiling charmingly.

Lily smiled herself, finding herself momentarily disarmed by the way Scorpius tilted his head and the smile he was giving her. For a second she forgot who she was, where she was and exactly who she was talking to. When she regained that knowledge she rolled her eyes immediately, turning her back to him to get another water bottle from her bag; that way he couldn't see the furious blush that had crept up her cheeks.

"You can't hide it from me, Miss Potter," he said teasingly. "I can tell it's winding you up, because you're practically obligated to hate me. But I saw that smile."

"True," she began, suddenly and roughly passing him the Quaffle to test his reflexes; they were spot on. Scorpius reacted instantly and caught the ball with ease. "But you'd be hard-pressed to prove it, Malfoy." Lily swung her leg over her broomstick and kicked off into the air, hovering in the air a few metres away and staring at him as if to say 'well, are you coming or not?'

Scorpius followed suit, kicking off and using a complicated half-standing position he usually only risked when in the company of Slytherin comrades of the fairer sex.

"Nice stance there, Malfoy," Lily observed. "Where did you learn it?"

"My father. I wouldn't recommend you try it, it's only for us _professionals_," he replied with a wink, causing Lily to roll her eyes at his arrogance, though she was somewhat amused.

"Professionals, you say? Well, how about we have a little competition to see who's more professional?"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow; he was never one to refuse a challenge, however he knew enough Gryffindors to realise that they were brave to the point of insanity, and likely to push the limits of what they were capable of without thinking of the consequences. "And what would this competition entail?"

"Not volunteering straight away? Anyone would think that you were _scared_," Lily teased, this time smirking herself. "Follow me,"

Lily soared a little higher in the air. Not too far, but just enough to give her butterflies when she stared at the ground, thinking of what she was about to do. She made sure her broomstick was completely horizontal, before carefully moving one hand further down the broom. Scorpius seemed ready to protest when he realised what she was about to do, but didn't want to harm her concentration or balance as she placed both her feet on the broom and steadily rose to her feet, balancing on the broom. Once she felt reasonably stable she smirked triumphantly at Scorpius, who looked rather pale in the face.

"What, is this too high for you Malfoy?" asked Lily, smirking; she knew that he could probably do just as she did, but at this height he wasn't game enough to try it, meaning she had won their competition by default.

"No, of course not," began Scorpius sarcastically, though it didn't cover the obvious worry. "I mean, if I was trying to fracture my skull, standing on my broom at this height would be the first thing I'd do,"

Lily rolled her eyes. "You couldn't fracture your skull from this height,"

"Perhaps not, but all the same, Potter, you should really get down. As surprising as this may be, I don't actually want to witness you killing yourself."

Lily sighed mockingly. "I'm disappointed in you Malfoy," she replied, slowly crouching down to grab hold of her broom. "I thought you'd-"

Lily had lost her balance before she'd gotten a grip on her broom; she felt the adrenaline pulse around her body as she reached out with her other arm and missed. Her stomach felt as though it was riding some sort of rollercoaster as she continued falling. Lily was conscious of someone calling her name as she fell, but mere seconds after that it seemed all light had been blinked from the world.

* * *

Lily woke up in the school hospital wing with no memory of what had happened after she had failed to grip her broom. It took her a couple of seconds to realise that she had been knocked out, another couple to realise where she was and who she was with. Scorpius was there, of course; she wondered how he had reacted. Had he been at all concerned about her? Part of her couldn't help hoping that he had been. But she dismissed the idea immediately; he probably handled the situation in his usual cool, unaffected manner, without much care at all.

"Good afternoon, sleepyhead," he said coolly.

Rose and Hugo arrived just as he had finished saying this, Albus arrived at the hospital shortly after in a frantic rush.

Albus took one look at Scorpius standing opposite Rose and Hugo, looking very uncomfortable, and snarled, "What did you do to her?"

Lily rolled her eyes, completely unsurprised. "He didn't do anything. Really. I was just showing off, and I-"

"Showing off for Malfoy? What a load of bollocks," scoffed Albus, looking at Scorpius as though he was the source of an unpleasant smell. "Did he threaten to hurt one of us if you told us what he did?"

"Interesting. How do you allege that I managed to communicate these threats to her, considering both your cousins have been here since she woke up?" Scorpius questioned coolly, logically.

Lily had to stop herself from smiling at the sense of sarcasm dripping from his voice. However she noticed that both boys were clenching their fists and staring heatedly at each other, and decided it would be best to lighten the mood. "I'm fine, Albus, really. I was standing on my broomstick. I was too high and he told me to get down – I fell off."

"Well why didn't you catch her then?" Albus questioned Scorpius accusingly.

Lily couldn't help but let out a laugh. "He was metres away, what was he supposed to do, dive to catch me? He got me to the Hospital Wing, isn't that enough?"

Albus was still staring viciously at Scorpius. "Who knows what else he did to you while you were unconscious,"

"Albus!" exclaimed Lily furiously.

This time Albus had really gone too far. First he was accusing him of hurting Lily, now he was accusing him of doing unmentionable things to her? Before anyone had time to react, Scorpius had drawn his wand and had it trained on Albus. Scorpius was just about to hex him into next week when the school matron appeared, dropping her tray of food in shock. "MR MALFOY!" she cried shrilly. "NOT IN MY HOSPITAL! OUT – OUT – AS A MATTER OF FACT, ALL OF YOU - OUT!"

With that, they were all thrown rather unceremoniously from the Hospital Wing.

"Nice job, Malfoy," said Rose sarcastically, stalking away. Hugo frowned but didn't say anything, instead choosing to simply follow Rose.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and turned on his heel in the direction of the Slytherin common room.

"Oi, Malfoy!" Albus called after him. He walked over to the taller blonde boy, poking a threatening finger into Scorpius' chest, unmindful of the difference in height and strength between them. "Stay away from my sister,"

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm not going to take any notice of you, of course, but the words are indelibly etched on my brain, I promise,"

Albus considered cursing Malfoy as he walked away for a split-second, but decided against it. First of all, it would be cowardly, and secondly, he and Scorpius had fought in the past – with magic, and with fists, and the Headmistress had made it perfectly clear that despite their families' history, she would not tolerate much more violence between them.

* * *

When Scorpius went to the Hospital wing after dinner to apologise for what had happened earlier, Lily already had company. Both her parents, both siblings, and a handful of cousins were standing around her bed, a fact that seemed to be putting the matron slightly on edge. Scorpius felt he would rather swallow an entire cutlery draw than enter a room full of Potters and Weasleys, thus he decided to swing around later, after curfew, that way he could be sure no one else would be there.

He was the first to enter the dormitory, meaning he had to wait quietly, pretending to be dead to the world until his dorm mates fell asleep. The last of them to do so was Albus Potter, but the soft snores seemed to be authentic, so with extreme caution he snuck out of his dormitory, downstairs and out of the common room into the corridor, by which time his eyes had somewhat acclimatised to the dark; he wasn't going to chance lighting his wand. Scorpius had been given the position of Head Boy this year, and if he was caught breaking the rules it would set a very bad example. However, he figured that if he were caught, he could think of some believable excuse. Scorpius was good at thinking on his feet.

After a tense and quiet journey, he reached the Hospital Wing undetected, and managed to sneak in the door without alerting the matron, whose light was still on in the office. He tiptoed over to her bed, being careful not to wake her, but as he reached her side, the figure stirred.

"Albus?" she questioned, not sleepily at all, and Scorpius concluded that she was already awake.

"Not quite," he replied, his voice low.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here? You'll be in massive trouble if you're found out after curfew,"

"I know. I thought I should apologise for earlier," Scorpius replied, though in his mind he still felt her brother would have deserved it, after what he said.

Lily sighed. "Even I was a bit surprised at what he said. He shouldn't have implied that - well, you know. You shouldn't have gone to curse him, but I understand why you did," she conceded.

"Well… good," replied Scorpius, managing to dodge any real admission of fault, "How are you?"

"Fine. Good. I suppose you're going to tell me I told you so?"

"No, no. See there's this unspoken social rule that when someone is hurt, you're not allowed to say it. Apparently it comes off badly, or something like that." Scorpius replied somewhat sarcastically.

"You don't say?" Lily questioned sarcastically. "Oh, and by the way… unfortunately for you I'll be out on the pitch in full force for the match this weekend, so expect to lose."

Scorpius shrugged. "Potter, haven't you learned that the only important position on the team is Seeker. Unless you're in the Professional Leagues, we Chasers have little impact on the outcome, so in the unlikely event of our loss, it will be through no fault of mine."

"You're quietly confident," she replied sarcastically. "How much would you be willing to stake on that?"

"I don't know… perhaps me leaving you alone for the rest of my schooling career vs. a date with me in Hogsmeade?"

"Wh-what?" Lil stammered, gaping, though he could not see the bewildered expression in the dark. "A – a date with you? Why?"

"No need to sound so frightened, Potter. I figure that there could be no greater punishment for you than a date with me. Why else would I ask?"

"I don't know, what would you have thought," she snapped defensively. In the dark, Scorpius smirked.

"Do we have a deal?" questioned Scorpius.

Lily frowned slightly. "I don't know… how can I guarantee you won't continue bothering me anyway if Gryffindor wins?" she questioned, though the word 'bothering' wasn't entirely true. She thought of the conversation she had had with him at the Quidditch pitch, and realised honestly that he hadn't really bothered her at all. In fact, this was probably the second real conversation she had had with him throughout her entire schooling career, both of which had actually been – she thought grudgingly – rather amusing.

"Well you'll just have to trust me, won't you? But you won't have to worry about that. As much as I hate your family, they're all rather good at Quidditch, and almost all of them left last year – face it, the best members of your team have all left. Your team is up the creek without a paddle,"

Lily snorted. "That's what you'd like to believe," she replied, ignoring the slight truth in his words. Her cousins were the best, and with their gradual leaving over the past few years, the Gryffindor team was left with a few good but rather inexperienced players. In fact this was true for all of the teams except for Slytherin, which looked to be at its peak this year. "You're on."

"See you on the field."

* * *

**Author's Note**: An eventful (and surprisingly amicable) first 'proper' meeting of the two, though unfortunately we can't say the same for Albus. As for the wager, Lily can't really win either way, don't you think? Leave a review and let me know!


	3. Alone

_Chapter Three_: Alone

It was the day after her little 'Quidditch Incident' and Lily had been mercilessly questioned by Albus the entire time at dinner. She had pretended to wait behind for a friend, so that her brother would leave without irritating her further. However the longer she waited the more obvious it became that she was just attempting to avoid him, and she was eventually forced to walk with him, along a corridor that would lead to both their respective common rooms.

"I just want to know _why_ you would feel the need to show off for Scorpius Malfoy,"

"For pity's sake, will you just drop it already? I was showing off because I'm my father's daughter – have you never listened to Uncle Neville or Auntie Luna about what he was like at school?"

"Yes, I have. That's why I know that you're your father's daughter and _Scorpius Malfoy_ is his father's son – don't forget that, Lil. Didn't anybody tell you what happened to Aunt Hermione in _his_ house, things his father could have stopped?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT? NO! BECAUSE NONE OF YOU EVER TELL ME ANYTHING!" Lily yelled, and Albus clamped a hand over her mouth before she could continue with her violent outburst.

"Shh, shh, Lily, quiet down. You don't have to yell," he hushed her, but Lily forcefully removed his hand from her mouth.

"See, you never listen to me – you're always silencing me, just like you did then. Do you know what it's like being the youngest of everyone? You always shut me out, all of you, whenever you talk about the war or _anything_. It's always, 'Lily, you're too young' or, 'Lily, it's for your own good', or, 'you'll understand when you're older'," Lily stopped to wipe the tears from her red cheeks. "And now I _am_ older and you lot are _still_ shutting me out. Maybe I needed you to fight off the boys down the road when I was five, but I'm older now, and stronger. I'm top of my defence class, for crying out loud - I can protect myself."

"So you can hold your own in a magical battle, fine. That's _not_ what I'm talking about here. You've never been in a relationship before, and-"

"What? I'm not _in_ a relationship, not with _Scorpius Malfoy_!"

"Good! Don't get into one! I don't think you realise how much Malfoy could fuck you up, if he really wanted too. He might seem charming, but he's just being manipulative – this is probably some cruel game he's playing just to hurt you."

"Thanks for the heads up, but I think I can look after myself," she replied with a scowl, her arms folded over her chest as she gritted her teeth.

Albus sighed, lifting up his glasses to rub his right eye in a manner that was instantly reminiscent of their father. "Fine," he replied simply, turning around to return to his common room.

Lily sighed, watching her brother disappear down the corridor. She turned around and immediately jumped with surprise; there was a figure standing right in front of her, having crept up behind her without her notice. "Merlin's saggy left– Malfoy. You scared me to death for the second time in two days!"

"Yes, I do seem to have that effect on people. Perhaps I should begin announcing my presence."

"How much did you hear of that conversation?" she snapped, in no mood for humour.

"Everything, funnily enough. You both stormed straight past me,"

"Congratulations, you're a stealth expert. What were you doing lurking in the shadows anyway, waiting for your next victim or something?" she questioned crossly.

"Well, someone's a bit testy. You know, my favourite part of the conversation was when he told you how much I could, what was the wording he used?, oh yes – 'fuck you up'. I'm quite flattered, actually, he must think I'm some kind of evil masterm-"

"Shut it, Malfoy, I'm not in the mood for your jibes." She replied, searching through her shoulder bag for no reason other than to avoid his gaze.

"Okay, I'll be serious, then. I know why you're angry; it's so simple it's a wonder they haven't realised it. You feel _alone_," Lily's head snapped up at this comment, staring into those penetrating grey eyes. "And the funny thing is you feel _guilty_ about it. You blame yourself. You wonder if there's something wrong with you… you should be grateful of having a family of so many people who love you… But on the other hand, you feel sick of being kept in the dark about the 'family secrets', sick of feeling you don't belong with your own family. It's not so easy being the only one who doesn't know. I bet when you were a baby all you had to do was ask and you got everything you wanted, but now you're just not cute enough. Well, you're still cute, just not cute in that smile-and-get-whatever-you-want wa-"

"Stop it," she ordered him, feeling tears prickling at her eyes. How could he see her so plain and true, as though he had known her his whole life? How could he see these things, how could he understand the feelings even her family hadn't managed to notice?

"Stop what? Wait, let me guess. You secretly enjoy being miserable and don't want anyone to try and understand you, am I correct?"

"No, I don't want _you_ to try and understand me!" she replied angrily, turning away from him childishly.

"Oh for fuck's sake Potter. Do you even have a reason for hating me?" he snapped coldly.

"Yes. Ever since I've been here, you've been a complete arsehole to my entire family."

"And who started that, do you think?"

"Let me guess, _you_."

"Guess again, princess."

Something about his voice made her turn around. It didn't sound like he was lying, but then again how could she be sure? "You're lying," she stated simply. "Albus wouldn't do something like that."

"I'm sure he wouldn't. _James_, however, would. Because in first year he, like everyone else, hated me immediately and I had no clue why. My father told me bugger all about his years at school, the war, or his involvement. I was like you, Lily. A mushroom; they're kept in the dark, fed on bullshit. Do yourself a favour, Lily, stop listening to what your family tells you and start trusting what you see with your own eyes. Because I know if I hadn't started finding things out for myself, I'd still be wondering why he did it. And I may look like the bad guy, but that's the role _your family_ gave me. Just living up to your expectations,"

Lily stared at him in awe as he turned to walk away. Had he decided to try and understand her because he felt they had something in common? Maybe he saw that they were both faced with the weight of so much expectation from their families, who gave so little in return? Perhaps he had seen that she had felt alone, that both had been kept in the dark by the ones they loved. It really did sound like he was being honest; that meant that his reason for hating them was not because he was brainwashed to by his father. Did that mean that all his prejudices, all his hatred toward her relatives was just a façade?

"Scorpius, wait!" she called after him, jogging to catch up with him. "What did he do to you? What did James do?"

Scorpius sighed. "It doesn't matter. It was so infantile I'd laugh it off if it happened tomorrow, but that early on I didn't need anymore bullying. Because of him, I made the mistake of using the word 'mudblood'… I didn't know what it meant, just that it was bad. After that, everyone kept saying the 'apple doesn't fall from the tree'. It didn't take long to figure out what a veritable _saint_ my father was. Long story short, that was the reputation I got stuck with. So you can blame your brother for making me… well, me. It's not so bad being an arsehole, if you exclude the occasional rape accusations by an overzealous older brother."

Lily laughed earnestly at this, feeling slightly cheered up by this. "So you don't hate my family after all?" she questioned, somewhat hopefully, though this hope in her voice was disguised as mere curiosity.

"I wouldn't say hate, just intensely dislike. I know I'm by no means innocent, but… well, I've seen a side to your family that you haven't, Lily, and it isn't pretty. I'd like to say the whole situation will be resolved, but I can't see that happening."

Lily was slightly disappointed that Scorpius wasn't just pretending to dislike her family, but she had more pressing matters to question him about. "So why did you talk to me, that day on the Quidditch pitch? Did you see that we both had something in common? I mean, that our families seem to think we're stupid,"

Scorpius shook his head. "No. I didn't really realise that until now. I was intrigued by the way you talked to Alice on the train. You are aware that had she not been – er- _preoccupied_ with attempting to molest me, she would have killed you on site?"

"So she's not your girlfriend?" Lily blurted out before she could help herself. For a moment, she didn't even understand what had gotten into herself; why would she ask such a question? Scorpius pretended to miss the eagerness, the intent behind the question.

"She is in my wildest nightmares. In reality I'm more partial to girls that are - well, let's be blunt - _sane_."

Lily laughed, relieved at his reply. She was beginning to understand exactly what had gotten into her, but was attempting to suppress those feelings. At the moment, Lily wasn't prepared to even consider the possibility that she was falling for Scorpius Malfoy.

"Well, I think it's about time we head off. We don't want to be caught after curfew, especially considering that there are only about two student administrative positions in the school not occupied by your family. One of them is mine, of course, but I'll let you off if you promise not to tell," said Scorpius, already walking backwards slowly.

"I promise," Lily replied, laughing.

"Oh, and by the way, there was another reason why I talked to you," said Scorpius, pausing in his stride.

Lily stared at him, puzzled.

"You're quite pretty, you know," Scorpius smirked. Before he could receive a reply, such as her handprint on his face, he turned on his heel and headed toward his dorm.

It was a good thing for Lily, too, otherwise he may have seen just what shade of red her face had become.

* * *

**Author's Note**: She doesn't see herself as vulnerable, but is obviously putty in his hands. He is clearly two-faced, but more importantly, what are his intentions?

Hmm, stew over that one for a little while [[and please, leave a review while you're at it ;)]].


	4. Pendulum

_Chapter Four_: Pendulum

The first match of the Quidditch season posed an interesting dilemma for Lily. As she entered the change room, she reflected on the bet that she had made with Scorpius. If Slytherin won – which was a bad thing – she would have to go on a date with Scorpius, which was possibly, just maybe, not such a bad thing. However if Gryffindor won – a good thing – Scorpius would leave her alone for the rest of the school year.

Lily, who had told no one about her conversations with him, had shocked even herself by realising that she viewed the latter option as a bad thing. She had talked to Scorpius three times this year, all of which had been rather pleasant. In one of those conversations, Scorpius seemed to understand, even empathise with her. Not only that, but he had complimented her looks and she didn't find herself offended because it was Scorpius Malfoy who said it. Her bet had become a lose-lose situation.

Even more frustrating was the fact that she couldn't really do anything about this. After all, as Scorpius said, Chasers had very little effect on the outcome. _Even if I wanted to throw the game - for argument's sake, of course,_ she thought to herself with a frown, _it would make little difference_. Lily realised that the outcome of this match, whatever it may be, was in fate's hands. _Guess I'll have to pray for a draw._

Taking a deep breath, she zoned out as their team captain rehashed the game plan that all seven of them were already well-versed in, having attended numerous practices in order to train their new players. The new additions were quick learners and progressed quick, but this year's Slytherin team was also extremely promising.

It was now time to enter the field. She was rather nervous for a moment or so, but after three years as Chaser and fifteen as the daughter of Harry Potter, Lily was well-accustomed to having all eyes on her. Admittedly it was addictive, and it didn't take long to get caught up in the excited atmosphere of the euphoric crowd; she smiled, waving at the Gryffindor stands as they walked out for the customary start-of-match handshake.

Her eyes wandered from their enthusiastic captain to the player immediately opposite her; all bedecked in his emerald Quidditch robes, was Scorpius. Surprisingly he was not grinning cheekily or smirking conceitedly as he always seemed to be, but smiling at her in a way that could only be described as infectious; she couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face.

He winked at her conceitedly, knowing that it would garner a reaction; Lily rolled her eyes. She climbed onto her broom, a movement so familiar it had become almost robotic for her, and with two high-pitched blasts of the referree's whistle, the game began.

A dark-haired Slytherin Chaser caught the Quaffle, and Lily sped off after him. At home she would have been able to close the distance between herself slightly quicker. She – and indeed many of her companions and competitors – was accustomed to riding a much better broom, but the school had chosen years ago to provide a standard set of broomsticks for school matches, so that no student would have a competitive advantage. Lily had long ago decided not to look on this as a bad thing, and instead used the extra time it took to plan her attack.

Nearing the Gryffindor goalposts, they were now side-by-side; Lily reached out to knock the Quaffle from the other student's hand, when he dropped it. Lily was gobsmacked by this obviously senior player, who had made suck a rookie mistake. But in seconds she realised that it was no mistake at all; Scorpius, who had been a few metres below his teammate, had caught the Quaffle and went for the low hoop on the left side. Gryffindor's Chaser, who had been prepared for an attack to the much higher middle hoop, didn't stand a chance, and a gong was sounded as Slytherin scored the first goal of the match.

One of her fellow Gryffindor Chasers swooped to retrieve the ball and began flying up to the Slytherin end of the field. Scorpius and his dark-haired comrade were on him within seconds, with one of them at either side trying to knock the ball away from him. Lily came to her teammate's rescue, and he managed to pass her the Quaffle just as he was about to lose possession – or his balance. Scorpius caught up to her a few seconds later; this time he wasn't smirking or showing off, and instead his face showed a look of concentration and utter dedication that she had not imagined possible in someone as nonchalant and carefree as Scorpius Malfoy.

He bumped into her rather harshly, as was standard fare in Quidditch; he was merciless in his attack, and Lily tried as hard as she could to hold onto the Quaffle, but eventually it slipped forward and out of her grip. When this happened, Scorpius accelerated to catch the Quaffle and was soon speeding back to the Gryffindor end of the pitch, this time being supported by both his teammates. A well-aimed Bludger from one of the Gryffindor Beaters dazed one of his teammates but did not stop the other two.

Scorpius was heading for the middle ring, and the Keeper flew up to respond to the challenge, this time being wary of the other player in case they were planning a similar stunt to before. But Scorpius remained steadfast on his path to the middle hoop; in fact it looked for a second as though he was going to crash into the Keeper. At the last possible moment he looped backwards and evaded the Keeper to put it straight through the middle ring for another ten points.

The game continued to go well for the Slytherin, much to Lily's chagrin. Their players – especially the Chasers - were ruthless, more experienced than the Gryffindors, and their plays were tactically thought out, clever and sound. It seemed that for every goal the Gryffindors scored, the Slytherins repaid them with another five.

However, Lily knew they still had a chance; both teams had Seekers that were debuting for the first time this match, and were on an even footing. If their Seeker could just catch the Snitch, Gryffindor would still win. But with Slytherin currently on 170 points, and Gryffindor on only 30, this window of opportunity was quickly closing on them.

Just as she was pondering this fact, Lily saw an opening to regain the Quaffle and took advantage of it; the Slytherin Chasers, all three of them, were hot on her heels, but she managed to sneak past the Keeper, who was overwhelmed by the number of blurs suddenly coming his way as he hovered.

For the second time in the match she had managed to score without any support from the other Chasers. Slytherin's Keeper was quite inexperienced and easy to get past, she realised, the only problem was wrangling the ball from the dynamic Slytherin Chasers. As much as she disliked admitting to herself that he had impressed her, Lily found that Scorpius was the best of the three.

The game continued similarly for another hour. Lily had begun to believe that it was going to be a landslide, wishing that the Gryffindors would soon be put out of their misery, when a commotion in the crowd told her that the Snitch had finally been sighted. It was one of the closest races she'd seen, but in the end the Slytherin Seeker couldn't maintain both the speed and balance required to catch the Snitch. This was some small victory for the Gryffindors, who lost the game nonetheless, but had at least reduced the margin by which they had done so.

Lily slowly made her way to the ground, disappointed that her team had lost the game, but secretly glad that Scorpius had won the wager instead of her. A couple of her Gryffindor peers had gone over to shake hands with the victors. She spotted Scorpius among the pack of Slytherins jumping and whooping over their marvellous start to the season. He stopped jumping with them and shook hands with her team captain and fellow Chaser before scanning the other Gryffindors, eyes falling upon her red hair. Wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead, he looked around to make sure none of his or her teammates were paying attention before making his way over to talk to her.

"Well, Potter, did you say something about the Slytherin team losing the other day?" Scorpius questioned.

Lily folded her arms, her face blank. "I don't recall. Perhaps it was during that conversation where you said us Chasers don't influence the result of the match anyhow?" she questioned in a fake sweet voice.

"Hmm, but I trust you _do_ recall our little wager?" Scorpius replied, choosing to ignore her question, as he knew that she was indeed correct.

"How could I forget,"

"Will you go?"

"Of course I will," she replied, affronted by the implication that perhaps she would go back on her promise. "Potters are always true to their word."

"In that case, how about we meet in Hogsmeade? Not that I wouldn't be the perfect gentleman and walk you, but I'm sure one of your family members would see me. In which case I doubt I would make it to Hogsmeade."

"Alright. Where?"

"The Three Broomsticks is always crowded. Perhaps we should go incognito… you be a hag, I'll go as a goblin. No? Alright. We'll just meet, then,"

"Scorpius!" called a voice from the crowd of green that was obviously ready to take their revelry back to the common room. "Party in the common room, you coming?"

"I'll be with you in a second," Scorpius called back.

"The Three Broomsticks it is," Lily confirmed with a nod, very unsure but also somewhat excited about what she was getting herself into.

"See you then," he replied, turning around to join his friends. Before he did so, he seemed to remember something and turned back to her. "Oh, and by the way… good game."

He extended his hand for her to shake, surprising her once again by being a good sport when she expected him to brag. "Good game," she replied, shaking his hand. "I guarantee the finals will be different."

He grinned at her before jogging to catch up with his Slytherin friends.

* * *

It took little time for the Slytherin victory party to get into full swing, with contrabands like butterbeer and firewhiskey somehow finding their way into the emerald-decorated room. Scorpius stood near the entrance with his friends, a location that proved to be somewhat inconvenient, as every time someone he knew came through the door, they felt the need to give him a high five or, for the slightly more inebriated, rather embarrassing bear hugs. But this wasn't too much of a hassle, and for a welcome change, the atmosphere of the common room was euphoric.

No one else in Hogwarts realised how prejudice had, over the years, divided Slytherin house; to them this would have seemed like business as normal. But for a Slytherin, the sight of everyone to be mingling among each other and enjoying each other's company without the usual terseness in the air gave out quite an uplifting, infectious feeling; it was very rare for the Slytherins to be so unified as they were tonight.

Scorpius was mulling over this – along with the fact that as Head Boy, technically he should currently be reporting the smuggling of alcohol into the premises - over a bottle of firewhiskey, when he was distracted by the voice of his friend, Elias.

"So, Malfoy, why were you talking to Potter after the game?" Elias questioned, his cheeky grin seeming, as always, to imply something sinister.

"Oh, you noticed that did you?" he said casually, inwardly cursing himself for not being more careful. However now was hardly the time to be beating himself up over a little slip up, especially after his performance on the field. Plus, he was already too drunk on the mood of the room (and perhaps a couple of firewhiskeys), to be angry with himself.

"Yes," replied Hadrian darkly. "And you know who else did?"

Hadrian jerked his head subtly to a point over his own left shoulder. Equally subtly, Scorpius lifted the bottle of firewhiskey to his lips - feeling his head spin slightly as he did so - and looked to where Hadrian had gestured. There stood Alice, with a couple of friends, surrounded by males, though it was apparent that she only had eyes for him.

Scorpius looked nonchalantly back to Hadrian. "Well, I was just telling Potter that she should expect a lot more victories from us this year. She informed me we had no chance of winning."

Riley grinned. "Y'know, I think he's actually trying to bullshit us," he began, slurring the words 'actually' and 'bullshit' rather badly. "Y'know, y'have a face for braggn, and tha' washn' it."

Elias nodded in agreement, also grinning. "It was more like your face for… flirting, am I right?"

Hadrian, unlike the others, looked sober as ever, and he wasn't grinning. In fact he looked rather irritated. "Look," he began quietly, pointedly, "I wish you the best of luck in whatever, mate, but you really need to be careful about who you lead on."

Scorpius felt somewhat disarmed by the amount of seriousness in this caution, since he knew Hadrian to be a person that didn't say something unless it was important, unless he meant it, unlike the other two of their small circle. He took this on board, remembering that Hadrian's family had been close to Alice's, but appeared outwardly unconcerned, shrugging his shoulder lazily. "Alice has nothing to worry about. Especially not from Potter,"

"That's reassuring to hear," purred a voice in his ear. Scorpius felt an unpleasant sensation in his stomach when he realised that Alice had an arm around his shoulder, and wondered how long she had been standing there. Through his inebriation he estimated that at the very least, she had heard his reply. "Scorpius, can we talk?"

She placed her hand in his rather forcefully, and began leading him away before he had even had a chance to reply. For a second he looked back at his friends; Elias was giving him the thumbs up, and Riley was grinning. Hadrian gave no indication of interest or praise.

Alice was leading him up the staircase; he knew that the spells on the staircases to the girls' dormitory would not allow him entry, so he was unsure about where she was taking him. Alice opened the door to his empty dormitory as he stumbled along behind her.

He followed her a few paces into the dormitory before she pushed him - a little forcefully – onto the nearest bed, wearing a less than pleased expression. It changed almost instantly and without any apparent cause to one of sweetness and innocence, and half sat on his lap, curling her feet under her as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to draw him closer. "You know, I saw the way you were talking to Potter after the match," she began casually, running her fingers through his hair and nuzzling his nose with hers, her lips growing ever closer to his.

"Mmm," was all Scorpius said in reply, not wanting to betray his current suggestibility.

"Well, you _were_ telling the truth when we spoke last night about your... intentions?" she questioned, lightly touching his chest.

Scorpius brushed his lips against hers reassuringly, his eyes locked on hers. "'Course. Would I lie to you?"

Alice smirked. "Good... because if you did," she trailed off, running the nail of her index finger in a line along his neck before lightly biting his bottom lip. "... I'd be very upset." With that she pulled back, stepping off the bed, and quietly left the room. Scorpius lay back and fell asleep almost instantaneously, and by morning he had forgotten all about their little conversation.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I said it would be slightly saucy... but I never said it would be saucy between Lily and Scorpius ;p Hmm, are his intentions are becoming clear or is Scorpius as confusing and indecipherable as ever? The answer may or may not come in our next chapter...


	5. Trepidation

**Author's Note**: I know this took me a while; the chapter was supposed to be longer but I guessed you might prefer a sooner update instead. I was a bit disappointed with the number of reviews I got for last chapter (only 3) so I've put a bit of a teaser at the bottom of the chapter to encourage you to review... enjoy!

_Chapter Five_: Trepidation

Lily felt a great sense of trepidation as she made her way down to the meeting point for the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. She was meeting Scorpius at the Three Broomsticks for a date – actually, her first date ever; Lily hoped desperately that this fact would not become bleedingly obvious.

Initially she had been elated, an emotion she had attempted in vain to hide, but more than one of her dorm mates had asked what she was so excited about. She had lied each time, apparently rather unconvincingly, evident from the fact that her friends had exchanged skeptical looks before shrugging their shoulders. Usually Lily was quite adept at lying, but today she was unusually out of sorts.

This was owing to her lack of sleep the previous night; she had been contemplating what exactly to say on her date she when began to think of the million things that could go wrong. She kept on replaying Albus' words in her head, that horrible creeping sentiment that Scorpius was probably playing some kind of cruel game with her. Perhaps he was planning to stand her up, or worse?

Her stomach had been tied in knots at the thought, when she realised that Scorpius Malfoy was far too intelligent for such an infantile prank which would only elicit laughter from the most immature of first years, if anyone even noticed her sitting on her own in the first place. Her fears on this particular part of the subject had been largely assuaged.

Over the course of her restless, sleepless night she had become more concerned with the possibility that one of her family members – especially Albus – would see her. After all, neither she nor Scorpius blended in – her with her bright red hair and widespread reputation, him with that platinum blonde hair and all-pervading air of confidence. It was quite likely that someone would spot them, but she didn't wish to imagine the consequences of such an occurrence. All she knew is that it would be far, far worse than any simple rejection. Lily only hoped that she would be able to enjoy herself despite the paranoia of being sighted looming over her head.

A few minutes into the trek, Lily decided that there was no use in worrying - after all, there was nothing she could do about that for the moment - and instead tried to distract herself by searching for Scorpius in the crowd. She was midway in the body of students heading for the wizarding village, and none of the people in front of her had both the height and hair colour of Scorpius.

Lily threw a casual glance behind her, attempting to take in the crowd without appearing too surreptitious. She didn't spot him, and decided not to look again, first of all because it would appear much too obvious, and second of all because she was only serving to make herself more nervous and fearful that he would not show up.

After what felt like hours they arrived, the students quickly dispersing into the brightly-lit cobblestone streets of Hogsmeade. Lily made her way toward The Three Broomsticks slowly, as to let the crowd filter in and take their seats; it would be the only chance for two people as well known as Lily and Scorpius to blend in.

Finally reaching the door, Lily stood still, apprehensive; she tried to see through the pane of glass in the door, but as soon as she leaned forward it fogged up with her nervous breath. There was nothing else for it; she would have to go in and hope that he was already in there to wave her over.

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled loudly and opened the door; she went to close it behind her, but found that there was an someone holding it open from behind her. "Afraid I wouldn't show up?" came a familiar voice, sounding rather amused.

Lily felt her stomach knot up slightly, half in embarrassment; for he must have heard the rather loud, nervous breath she had heaved, and half in excitement for the fact that he had actually shown up after all. A smile tried to creep its way across her face at this, but she fought the grin that was tugging at the side of her lips.

She was beginning to turn around to tell him that he had almost frightened the life out of her once again, but before she could he said quietly, "Don't turn around. Your brother's about two metres to the right," Lily glanced subtly to the side and spotted Albus with a friend from Ravenclaw whose name she could not recall; she felt anxiety welling in her chest; now she had wished that Scorpius had waited at least a few minutes to follow her into the popular pub. Just go sit down somewhere and I'll find you later."

Before Lily had the chance to even take another step away from the doorway, Scorpius spoke again, this time loudly, so Albus would be able to hear. "Excuse me, Potter, some of us would like to get in from the freezing cold, some time today if possible," said Scorpius with a sneer, his voice dripping with irritation. He brushed past her toward the bar, and her gaze followed as he did. Albus excused himself and Scorpius roughly pushed his way past him without a word; Albus watched him walk away with a glare before walking over to Lily. "What an arsehole," said Albus darkly.

Lily had to stop herself from grinning at this, as Scorpius had been very convincing.

"Anyway, what are you doing here all alone?" Albus began, more brightly this time. Then his eyes narrowed and he continued on suspiciously, "you're not waiting for a boy or something are you?"

Lily laughed, but she had been struck with a brilliant idea. "You're funny, but unfortunately not. You remember Josephine? Josephine Summers? Hufflepuff, dark brown hair?"

She could almost see the cogs in his brain ticking, and was unsurprised to see his eyes widen in faint horror as the final cog clicked into place and realisation came upon him. "You mean the one that you invited to that sleepov-"

"Yes, that's precisely the one," replied Lily, replaying the exact same memory in her head that he was in his and smiling brightly. "I wasn't sure you would remember. Why don't you and... I'm sorry, I forgot her name-"

"Delia."

"Delia, of course. Why don't you and Delia join us to have a few butterbeers together and I can get to know her. You never introduce me to any of your friends, how about we start now?" she questioned brightly.

"Er, look, I'm sorry but I'll have to pass, Delia and I are just waiting here for Rose to finish at Zonk – oh, I think I see her outside. We better go. Another time, though, alright?" Albus walked over to Delia, who nodded and got up, smiling at Lily as the two left hurriedly.

Lily smiled in satisfaction as the door clicked shut behind them, then she began making her way to a spare table that she had spotted in a more secluded corner of the pub. A couple of minutes later Scorpius appeared with two butterbeers; he looked around subtly, obviously noting where she was sitting but without catching her eye. A couple of seconds later a boy she recognised as Elias Nott came and slapped him on the back, causing Scorpius to spill some of the foam from the top of the butterbeers.

"Scorp mate!" he said, too inebriated to notice that he was slopping half his firewhiskey on the floor. "Choo up to?"

"Nothing Elias. Just having a quiet drink by myself," he lied nonchalantly.

"You got two drinks there." he said, pointing at the two bottles; despite being drunk there were some things, such as alcohol and girls, that never escaped the notice of Elias Nott.

"Yes, so I don't have to line up again," Scorpius lied flawlessly.

"Thass a good idea. I'll remember that..." Elias trailed off, nodding.

Scorpius nodded, expecting there to be more of the sentence to come later, but instead Elias patted him on the back as a strange sort of 'goodbye' before stumbling back to the bar. Scorpius looked around once more and when he was satisfied that everyone was enthused in their drinks and conversation, made his way casually over to Lily.

"I hope you like butterbeer," said Scorpius nonchalantly, as though there had been no great struggle involved in arriving at the small corner table. He slid a bottle over toward her, taking a sip of his own.

"I love it," Lily blurted out involuntarily, blushing at the suddenness of her reply. "I mean yes, it's fine, thanks. How much do I owe you?"

Scorpius snickered. "This one's on me," he replied, taking another sip of his own bottle. He observed her for a second before continuing. "You can relax, you know. I don't bite – at least not in crowded pubs in broad daylight."

Lily laughed nervously. "Oh, it's not you, I'm just worried about Albus coming back in or something," she replied, half-truthful.

"Don't worry. If he does, we can just pretend I was harassing you. I think that sounds realistic enough, don't you?"

Lily laughed, a little less nervously this time. "I don't think he'd have a problem believing that. After all, he wouldn't want to believe anything else," she replied. Lily took another sip of her butterbeer, and in the process caught a flash of red hair in the doorway. She ducked immediately, recognising her cousin Hugo with a small group of boys from her year.

Scorpius, rather than looking confused, looked around slowly and noted with a small 'ah' the relative she was hiding from this time. He pretended to be observing his fellow pub-goers until Hugo disappeared into another room. He leaned over sideways to look at Lily under the table. "He's gone."

With a small smile, she returned to her original seat.

"You know, this may possibly be the most action-packed date I've ever had. I'm sorry, I thought the crowds would mean we'd be inconspicuous. I was wrong,"

Lily smiled. "It's alright. I mean it's not exactly the first date I'd imagined, but-"

"Wait a second. This is your first date?"

Lily blushed brightly, wishing that she hadn't spoken so brashly, that it hadn't slipped out. "Well, yes. To be honest, usually my brothers scare boys away," she replied. "I mean, a couple of boys have maybe – well, tried... but in the end none of them bothered to stick around to get to know me." Lily realised that she was turning increasingly more red in the face. When she finished, she felt pathetic, stupid, embarrassed; Lily wished she had stopped at 'yes'. Listening to her own words she felt as though she was going to cry.

"I could see how they might scare people away," Scorpius replied softly. "But if they weren't willing to pursue you despite that... obviously you didn't miss out on much at all. That's their loss, not your own,"

Lily looked up in slight surprise at this, having half expected a laugh or cruel comment. But there was no mocking tone in his voice, and as his stormy grey eyes locked on hers, she seemed to glimpse sincerity, not malice. A small smile spread across her face. "It makes me wonder why you'd bother. Albus would love an excuse to dismember you,"

"So I've heard. I'm afraid, however, that Scorpius Malfoy doesn't give up without a fight. I'd have to take him down with me," he replied jokingly, taking a long sip of his butterbeer.

"Well, since it would be a rather tragic loss of life, how about we get out of here?"

"Already? Merlin, I must be looking horribly unattractive today. I've never had a date suggest leaving before even finishing her butterbeer. I thought I was being rather charming," he joked, hiding a slight blow to the ego.

Lily laughed, sipping her butterbeer. "No, it's not that, I just thought of somewhere else we could go is all. It has everything we need, and we don't have to worry about looking over our shoulders all the time."

"In that case," Scorpius began, downing the rest of his butterbeer. "Lead the way. Or would you prefer me to stand at the door for a few minutes and be lookout before we leave? _Or,_ we could go back to my original idea – you know, hag and goblin disguise."

"No," Lily laughed, also finishing the remainder of her butterbeer. "It'll be alright. Let's just go."

They made their way to the door, this time neither of them paying as much attention to who might be seeing them; most of the occupants were too drunk or too enthused in their own business to take much notice. Scorpius held the door open for her, and they exited the wizarding establishment - both with smiles on their faces - together.

* * *

Preview:

"Tell me about yourself,"

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, anything... everything I've ever heard about you has come from either Albus or James or Rose... it's like only ever seeing something through frosted glass. I don't know what I'm supposed to think of you."


	6. Honesty

_Chapter Six_: Honesty

Lily lead Scorpius out of The Three Broomsticks at a leisurely pace. She had almost been surprised how much she had enjoyed their 'date', short as it may have been. As they walked the cobblestone street, Lily didn't bother looking around to see if any of her relatives were around; she had a good feeling. Despite all the worrying she had done and all the lost sleep, somehow she felt that Scorpius had made it worth it. Not that she would express this freely; his ego was certainly not in need of further feeding, or so it appeared. She planned to find out if this was really the case, and she knew the perfect setting to do so.

"So where exactly are you leading me, Potter?" Scorpius questioned playfully; his tone of voice as he said the word 'Potter' was markedly different to the way it was when he spoke to Albus.

"You'll find out when we get there, Malfoy," Lily replied cryptically, grinning.

"Alright. But if you're leading me to the Whomping Willow, there will be trouble," he joked. Hogwarts castle became visible in the distance.

"No, no, no, if I were leading you to the Whomping Willow I would at least blindfold you first. You'd be more unsuspecting that way,"

Scorpius snickered. "You, Lily Potter, have a very devious mind. I never would have guessed. Should have known there was something sinister going on under those flaming locks of yours,"

Lily laughed. "Says the man who some would call king of all things sinister."

"I happen to believe I'm very trustworthy. The Headmaster gave me the position of Head Boy, you know. I'm full of innocence and good will,"

"Full of hot air is more like it," Lily joked as they walked through the towering school gates.

Scorpius sighed. "You don't have a very high opinion of me do you?" he asked, half-seriously.

"It's not that, I just don't know you all that well," she replied sincerely. "I do plan to pick your brain, though, so be prepared,"

"Sounds painful."

Scorpius opened the Entrance Hall door, allowing Lily to pass through before slipping in behind her. They walked silently down corridor after corridor; Lily began to worry that perhaps when they reached their destination they would have nothing to talk about. After all, they did have little in common, or so it seemed at the moment; she would soon know. Finally, she stopped, not outside a door but in front of a stone wall.

"The Room of Requirement," said Scorpius, surprised. "I should have guessed,"

"You know about the Room of Requirement?" said Lily, somewhat surprised that he had known about it already; she had hoped perhaps that she could show him something new.

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, my father, he..." he trailed off, staring at the wall as though he were miles away, "well, yes, I know,"

Lily frowned slightly. "Do you still want to... I mean if you'd rather-"

"No, it's fine. You just walk down and back a couple of times, right?" he questioned, closing his eyes as he did so. A large mahogany door with a brass handle materialised where the empty wall had been. He made a small 'Hmm' sounded that reminded her of her grandfather when he looked at muggle appliances. Again he held the door open for her. "Shall we?"

Lily walked into a small, simple room; it had a fireplace with a roaring fire and a couple of very soft, comfortable-looking lounges set around a small square coffee table. She walked straight over to one of the chairs and flopped down on it, stretching our leisurely. "Not too shabby at all. Are you sure you haven't been here before?"

"Positive," said Scorpius, lowering himself into the other lounge. "Now, what did you say earlier about picking my brains?"

Lily laughed. "I didn't mean anything too serious," she began, "I just want you to... well, tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know, anything... everything I've ever heard about you has come from either Albus or James or Rose... it's like only ever seeing something through frosted glass. I don't know what I'm supposed to think of you."

"What do you want to think of me?"

Lily paused, staring dumbstruck at him. She had entertained thoughts or possibilities about him, formed her own image of what she hoped him to be, or what she hoped he would be _to her._ She was too embarrassed to admit that she had thought of this, and even more afraid that he would turn out to be everything Albus and her family had told her he was. "I-I... I don't know," she stuttered, flushing slightly red at her own answer.

"You can tell me," he said earnestly, "I won't laugh. Or curse you, if that's what you're afraid of."

"I just... I don't want you to be what they've told me. Despite barely knowing you I can't help but feel that you aren't... for some reason, I have faith that you're not."

"Maybe you give out your faith too easily," he replied softly.

Lily felt her breath catch in her throat and a sinking feeling in her stomach. "So you're telling me you are... what they say?"

"No, I'm not saying that. In the end that's for you to judge, but... I'm just saying that maybe you should be a little more careful."

"You know it's remarkable... you hate his guts, but when it comes down to it you sound exactly like my brother," teased Lily.

"Well he's right," said Scorpius, smiling. "You're lucky to have such a big family who would all do anything for you."

"Is it lonely... being an only child? I complain about them a lot but I'm happy to have my brothers." she asked, hoping that perhaps he would reveal a little information on his family.

Scorpius shrugged. "I wouldn't call it lonely. My parents made me 'playdates' when I was younger so I was never bored or anything, but I suppose I always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling."

"Are you close to your parents?" Lily asked curiously.

"Well they both worked a lot when I was younger, so I didn't spend as much time with them as some children do with their parents, but I still have distinct memories of them... Father taught me everything. He'd read to me and answer my questions, while Mum was the one I went to when I skinned my knee, that sort of stuff. If I was ever in trouble, if there was something I wanted everyone to know, I'd tell her first. But I just see us as a typical wizarding family,"

Lily frowned. She had a question to ask, an important but sensitive one; she wasn't quite sure how to word it without offending him.

Scorpius seemed to sense by the look on the face that she was about to ask something difficult. "If there's something you want to know, ask... I won't be angry, I promise."

"What did your father tell you about the war or... about his beliefs,"

Scorpius didn't look surprised, or angry for that matter, it seemed that he had anticipated this question for a long time. "He didn't tell me much about the war. He doesn't speak of it. I'm forbidden to ask. I told you the other day, if I remember correctly, that I found out the hard way. There's only one thing I know of my own finding, from something I wasn't meant to see... " he trailed off without clarifying exactly what he had seen. "That was the day I found out that there are some things we're better off not knowing. He was furious that I'd seen. I've never seen his face that white before... "

Lily wanted to ask about the memory, what he had seen that was so shocking and horrible, but in her mind there was a much more important question to ask. "So he didn't tell you to hate muggleborns or anything like that?"

"No. Sometimes when I think back on conversations I had with my grandparents... but I didn't understand what they meant at the time. My parents never told me to think that way. Father still believes what he believes, deep down inside, I know that, but... he knows he's a dying breed. He knew that I would suffer if I was brought up in the same fashion he was. Look, I know you think he's a horrible person, and your father probably told you to hate all Malfoys-"

"My dad would never say that, ever. He lets us come to our own conclusions, trusts our judgement. Albus and James dislike you because they hear a lot of stories from Uncle Ron about the war... he never let go like Dad did."

"Well, no matter what he thinks of my father, what anyone thinks... he makes me angry sometimes, but I understand all the sacrifices he makes for me, and how much he loves me and my mother. I could never hate him."

Lily smiled. "I'm happy to hear you say that. Albus would like me to believe you're incapable of love,"

"I can love just as strongly as I can hate," he replied, smiling back at her. They sat in silence for a while before he continued. "Do you feel like you know me a little better now?

Lily nodded slowly; now she had his history she understood him a little bit better, but that was only his past. What did he want now? "I suppose so."

"So you're not afraid I'll curse you when your back is turned, then?" he questioned playfully.

"No. I think I can trust you not to. But I do have just one more question,"

"Fire away,"

"That day I asked you why you talked to me. You said I was..." she paused, feeling awkward about referring to herself in such a manner, "You said it was because I'm-"

"Pretty? Yes, I did mean it, if that's what you're going to ask."

"No, I wasn't. I mean, there are lots of pretty girls at Hogwarts – why would you talk to me? I just feel there's something more. There has to be another reason."

"But of course. There are many reasons, none of which you will much like. But I'll tell you, if you really want to know,"

Lily bit her lip. While she understood Scorpius a bit more now, she still didn't understand why he was here with her. Part of her was afraid that she wouldn't like the answer, but she had to know. "Yes, tell me. I want to know,"

"Just as you're curious about my origins, I'm curious about you. When I saw you on the pitch all I knew about you is that you're Harry Potter's daughter, Albus' sister. You're the most jealously guarded secret in the Potter family... the thing they find most precious."

Some would have felt complimented, but Lily understood the deeper implication, the one he knew she would not like. "So you wanted the challenge of getting to me? You just saw me as a sort of trophy, some precious object to pursue."

"I suppose you could say I wanted to get to you. But I already did, that day on the Quidditch pitch. Knowing that I 'bypassed their defences' would have been satisfaction enough for me. If there was nothing more, I would have stopped there, not spoken to you again.... but despite all the reasons I have to stay completely clear of you, I still want to know you. So yes, I did partly see you as a challenge. You can hit me, curse me or what have you, but never say I wasn't honest with you,"

Despite all the things that could have angered her, caused her to run to Albus and tell him that he had been entirely correct about Scorpius and all the reasons she had to stay away from him too, _something_ caused Lily to remain. And she knew that something wasn't just teenage rebellion. Lily knew it wasn't love either, but something continued to draw her toward Scorpius Malfoy.

And his words, '_if there was nothing more_', seemed to echo slightly in her head... what did he mean by that? Could it be what she hoped it meant? It seemed that every word, every cryptic sentence raised just about as many questions as it answered. He had managed to reveal everything that she had asked and somehow still remain an enigma.

"I should be furious, but I can sort of understand why you felt that way. I suppose in a way, you're a challenge to me too. Maybe that's what keeps me sitting here, rather than drawing my wand to hex you,"

"So we find yet another way in which we're alike," said Scorpius, smiling.

"Yes, I suppose so," she admitted with joking reluctance.

"So, I suppose the only question remaining is... do you want to do this again?"

* * *

**Author's Note**: I realise that was a terrible ending, despite the clear plan in my head I've got a bit of writers' block. You guys have been waiting for ages, though, so I thought perhaps something is better than nothing. I promise the next chapter will be better :)


	7. Hostage

**Author's Note**: Sorry it took me so long to update with this chapter, I was just _so_ stuck for so long that I really had no idea what to do. But it's here now! If there's ever a delay like that again, check my profile and I'll keep you updated :D

Also, to the anonymous reviewers - **Moronicisus** (thankyou so much for your glowing review, it really encouraged me!)

**Seiliez **(don't worry I will definitely be finishing the story, no more neglect now this pesky chapter is written!).

_Thanks so much to all the reviewers, I promise I won't leave the story untouched for this long again._ Enjoy!

* * *

"_So, I suppose the only question remaining is... do you want to do this again?"_

Lily felt her heartbeat quicken slightly in her chest, half out of shock and partly from excitement. Was he asking her out? She decided to react casually with a question of her own, not giving too much away. "What do you mean exactly? Another Hogsmeade weekend?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I was actually thinking more about here. It's much more convenient,"

Lily had to stop herself from frowning at his rather ambiguous reply. Did he just want to sit around and talk with her, or were there deeper feelings behind his request? All she could do was agree, and hope that his feelings and intentions revealed themselves in time. "Sure, why not," she replied, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders, as thought it was of no real importance to her either way. "How about next Saturday?"

"Wouldn't miss it," he replied, a good-natured smile on his face. "Now I'm afraid I have a rather nasty little charms essay to start. You'll have plenty of these to look forward to, just so you know,"

Lily grinned. "Thankyou for the glimpse into my dim future," she joked.

With one last grin at her over his shoulder as he opened the door, Scorpius disappeared from the room.

He headed straight back to the Slytherin common room, mulling over their conversation. He had been unsure as to how Lily would react when he told her why he had initially spoken to her, but her reaction had not been angry or upset. In this case honesty really had been the best policy; he would hardly gain her trust by lying to her.

He took the steps to his dormitory two at a time and retrieved his quill and unfinished essay, deciding that he'd finish it in the comfort and warmth of the common room, which was surprisingly empty and for once, a conducive environment for study. Or so he had first thought before he sat down in a comfortable chair, back to the staircase leading to the dormitories. For this had given someone the perfect opportunity to slink quietly down the stairs and place two slender, tanned arms around his neck and lightly kiss his cheek.

"Hello Alice," he said unflinchingly, the scent she always carried with her alerting him to her presence. Also, there was no one else that would have approached him so boldly.

"I heard the most odd of rumours today, Scorpius," she announced, not bothering to return his greeting. Her lips hovered somewhere near his left ear, her warm breath tickling him. "My friend Alyssa swore she saw you at The Three Broomsticks today... with Lily Potter of all people,"

Scorpius calmly continued to scan through his essay, not acknowledging the accusatory nature of the question beyond her honeyed tones. "Quite the creative imagination your friend Alyssa has. Tell me, is she the brunette with those idiotic looking horn-rimmed glasses?"

A brief flicker of a smirk appeared on her face in amusement, then Alice nodded.

"Then her vision can't be that good, can it?"

Alice cocked her head to the sighed as she pondered his defence, then sighed in resignation. "All right, I see your point," she replied, flopping down onto his lap. "I mean, what would you possibly see in that girl and her disgusting family anyway?"

"Exactly," Scorpius nodded, still editing his charms work.

Alice shrugged nonchalantly, "Alyssa's probably just jealous for some reason. But don't worry. I'll find out," She swiftly kissed him on the cheek and left the common room without another word.

Waiting for Alice outside the common room was a dark-haired girl with olive skin and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. "So, what did he say?"

"Exactly what you said he would," replied Alice coolly.

Alyssa groaned. "He's lying to you," she said pointedly.

"True, he said what a guilty man would say. But what blameless man would not protest his innocence?"

Alyssa rolled her eyes, to which Alice gave her a sharp look that clearly said that she was not one that should be mocking. Alyssa was visibly startled by such a menacing look, and crossed her arms across her chest defensively. Alice smirked at this little gesture of subservience; her 'friend' was well aware of who held the power here. Alyssa couldn't help thinking to herself: _You just like to intimidate people, see them squirm don't you?_ _You don't care about the truth._ She felt a blaze of great dislike for Alice, but masked it coolly. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Alice's face lightened and a shadow of the smirk of amusement from earlier returned to it. "What I always do when someone doesn't give me the information I want; force them. Manipulate it out of him. He won't have any choice but to show me his true colours..."

* * *

By the time Scorpius reached the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, his friends had already gone to their classes, as had most of his housemates. When he had chosen his subjects he had ensured himself a free period on Monday mornings, to give him time to relax, wind down from whatever had gone on that weekend (including, if necessary, time for recovery from the occasional Firewhiskey hangover). He sat down and helped himself to some bacon and eggs. At the entrance of the Great Hall, a friend of Alice's appeared, looking out of breath. The girl, Cordelia, headed swiftly over to Scorpius, interrupting his first bite.

"So there you are. Lucky I found you, come with me," Cordelia said breathlessly. She seemed calm, but clearly in a hurry; Scorpius wasn't quite sure what was happening, and his only concern was that whatever was happening was preventing him from eating.

"Come with you where?"

"It's Alice, I thought she might listen to you. She's taunting some Gryffindor-"

Scorpius scoffed. "Have you actually _met_ Alice? That's just what she does. If you really need to stop her, get one of the teachers to handle it. As you can see, _I'm_ eating,"

"Yes, I know, but she's using magic, and last time Headmaster McGonagall said if they caught her using magic on other students again, she'll be expelled."

"And I'm sure Alice is aware of that. It's not my responsibility stop her, I haven't the faintest idea why you would think it is,"

"Because she says she's doing it for _you_,"

"Taunting Gryffindors in my name? I'm pretty sure I never asked Alice to do that. Think I would remember,"

"Well you said _something_, and whatever it was set her on the warpath."

"Wait a second, who has she-" Scorpius began, before freezing suddenly. He knew the answer to the question before he had finished asking it. He put his cutlery down and abandoned his breakfast. "Fine then," he said coolly, "since you won't allow me to eat until I've saved Alice from herself, I'll go with you."

Cordelia lead him to a part of the castle that was almost always abandoned. It had been a tower; the roof and the wall to the outside of the castle had been destroyed by either spellfire or great stones lobbed by giants or mountain trolls during the Battle of Hogwarts. After the Battle, parts of the castle had been rebuilt anew, but for some reason this particular tower had resisted rebuilding. Not that they hadn't tried; they had, and many times, but there was always some kind of mishap that prevented it, a death or malfunction with equipment or material. Eventually people came to regard it as cursed, and for that reason it was generally avoided (except by first years, who often snuck out there on dares, or lovers who wished to be undisturbed).

This was part of the reason Scorpius felt a sense of foreboding. Not because he believed in the curse, but because he knew that there would be no one in this part of the castle. Alice's teasing of other students was usually without any specific point, she simply loved the attention, thrived on it. She would start a fight with someone right outside the Great Hall after breakfast, for all the crowd to witness. But here, there would be no audience, which only meant one thing; Alice must have some kind of sinister purpose, and that thought filled him with dread. Until now he had only thought of her as a very strange but mostly harmless girl who occasionally picked on those she saw as weaker than her. He _had_ heard rumours that she had actually tortured people, but he had dismissed that as idle gossip, like most of the rumours that flew around Hogwarts. Could it be, that that particular insight about her true character had been correct? Either way, a terrible feeling was rising in the pit of his stomach.

Scorpius paused at the bottom of the staircase. There was no crowd, no yells or jeers like there usually were at Alice's fights. There was complete silence; it was unnerving. "Alice?"

"Up hear, darling," her voice sung out softly.

He ascended the stairs, but Cordelia did not follow, staying at the bottom to play lookout.

A cool breeze blew over him as he reached the top of the stairs, he looked around and saw Lily, levitating upside down; her face was very red, and by the looks of it Alice had both locked her legs together and hexed her so that she could not speak, as she was making various muffled noises. His eyes travelled away from her to Alice, who was leaning on a wall with a very self-satisfied smirk on her face.

"Hello Scorpius," she purred softly, "I got you a present."

"What's this about?" asked Scorpius, confused, his heart beating faster as he looked fleetingly at Lily.

"Well," Alice said, sounding pleased with herself as she stepped toward him. "You remember how I asked you if you were at Hogsmeade with Miss Potter here?"

"Yes," Scorpius said slowly, not comprehending her meaning.

"You said no. But the thing is, Alyssa was pretty certain she saw you both there. I don't believe she'd have a reason to lie to me."

"Alice, let her down-"

"So, the only other conclusion is," Alice continued, ignoring him, "that _you_ lied to me. Why would you do that, Scorpius?"

"I didn't-" he began, but Alice slowly swung Lily over the edge, still red-faced and upside down. When she saw that she was dangling over the school grounds she stopped struggling against the curse, afraid it may suddenly wear off if she continued trying to free herself.

"Don't, Alice - I'll tell you the truth. I always thought our flirting was just a game, a joke between friends - I mean it's been going on for years and nothing has ever happened between us. I never thought you were serious... but I wasn't sure, so I didn't want you to know that I was seeing Lily. I didn't want to hurt your feelings. So I lied,"

"So you find this-" Alice began, swinging Lily back so that she was hanging next to her, out of danger again, for now. "More attractive than me?"

"Of course not," replied Scorpius, moving slowly toward Alice. He placed his hands on her arms. "I just never realised you were really interested."

Alice sighed, pulling away from him. "I do hate it when you lie, Scorpius. You're really not as good at it as you think... I can read you like a book. Can _she_ say the same thing?" Alice flicked her wand and Lily crumpled to the floor, trying to catch her breath. "Don't worry. _I'm_ not going to hurt her again... I'm sure you'll manage that all on your own, Scorpius. Oh yes," she looked around at Lily, who was lying on her side on the floor, shooting Alice a murderous look. "He'll break your heart, I guarantee. I just hope I'm there to see it... See you later Scorpius." With that, Alice left the room.

Scorpius watched her as he went; he would never turn his back on Alice Avery again. When he was certain she was gone, he dropped to the ground next to Lily. "Are you alright?"

Lily nodded. Her face was much less red and she seemed to be getting her breath back. She attempted to get to her feet, but stumbled before sitting back down again.

"Just sit down a while, get your balance back. Don't want you toppling over the edge," said Scorpius, joking but nervous; he could still feel the adrenaline from when Lily was dangling over the edge. "Here, rest your head on my shoulder,"

Lily placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, Scorpius placed an arm around her to support her.

Scorpius smiled. "Hmm... not exactly the usual Monday morning,"

Both of them cracked up laughing, and it was several minutes before they were in a fit state to speak again.

"Certainly not," replied Lily, grinning. "I suppose I can't go to Herbology now. I highly doubt Professor Longbottom will buy the excuse, 'sorry I'm late sir, a psychopath had me hanging by my ankles all morning'. For a moment I thought I would be forever known as 'The Ghost of the Cursed Tower'. Then it would _really_ be haunted,"

"So you don't believe the superstition then?" Scorpius replied, laughing, "That it's haunted by the malevolent spirit of Voldemort?"

"I'm sure the malevolent spirit of Voldemort would have better things to do. Actually, I think it's quite nice up here. We should come here for a picnic some time - perfect view of the grounds, the lake..."

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed the view, it was almost the last thing you ever saw... weren't you scared? How did she even get you up here?"

"Terrified - truly, I had no idea what was going on. She must have stunned me from behind and levitated me up here. Cast a Disillusionment Charm as well, so no one would see,"

"Yes, I imagine an unconscious, floating Lily Potter would attract some attention. But the time for jokes is over - we need to get you to the Hospital Wing, or maybe the Headmaster. No, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing then fetch the Headmaster and we can-"

Lily silenced him with her lips. Perhaps it was the fact that she had almost died, but she only knew that all her inhibitions about Scorpius had melted away. There was no way he could ever hurt her as much as Alice almost had this morning - he cared about her, she could feel it. And he was a very good kisser. She placed her hand on his cheek as they kissed, and as he pulled her closer she felt all the fear and adrenaline drain from her body. The only thing in the world that mattered was the two of them. When the kiss was over, she rested her forehead on his.

"So, do you trust me now?" Scorpius asked. He pulled away, but kept eye contact, stroking her hair. "Or do you believe what Albus and Alice say, that my intention is to hurt you?"

Lily laughed. "Yes, I trust you. I think you're genuine... or a very clever triple agent. But I think that's unlikely. Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through."

"That's what relationships are, though - an awful lot of trouble. And this one - well, it'll probably be harder than most. We can't tell anyone about it, today just proves that. If this is how Alice reacts imagine how your friends will feel, your family - your brother for one... they won't understand."

"Well, we'll just have to make them understand. Look, how about we hide it while we can, or at least for this year - you'll be finished next year anyway, we won't have to worry then,"

"But you'll still have to worry about it. You'll be the one living with the stares and the comments, not me. And when I leave Hogwarts? Then what will we do?"

Lily sighed. "We'll figure something out, okay? I'm not giving up on something just because some crazy girl puts me in a leglock curse and tries to kill me. And be damned with my family not understanding, they never understand me anyway, so what's the difference? At least I'll have you."

Scorpius sighed, but he was smiling. "So you are determined, then?"

"Completely and absolutely."

* * *

**Author's Note**: So, what did you think? I hope it was worth the wait! :D Also, I know some of you are probably wondering about the line in the summary, as it appears to completely contradict the story so far... my answer to you is to be patient, in a few chapters it will all make sense ;-)


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